Abnormal Anomalies
by RubinAmigo
Summary: Jess is at the aquarium with her niece, when an anomaly appears. After that anomalies seem to follow her around. Will the team figure out what is going on before some creature gets Jess? Eventually Jecker. Enjoy, please R&R.
1. Chapter 1

"Oh look, Lisa, that shark is swimming in our direction. Shall I take a picture for you?" Jess asked her niece.

The six-year old girl nodded enthusiastically, without turning her head away from the glass front of the shark tank.

Jess took a picture of the shark and of Lisa as well, while she was at it and checked her watch. They had been here at this specific tank for almost half an hour now, but Lisa still didn't want to move on to the next exhibit in the aquarium. She was too captivated by the sharks. Jess could only imagine how long she would want to stay at the touch pools, if they ever made it there.

Smiling about her niece's fascination she sat down on one of the benches in the room. They still had two more hours, before the aquarium closed, so she could give the girl a little more time. And the tank was really nice, it almost looked like a natural habitat. It was probably as close as you could get in an aquarium. They even had some really good light effects, like the light of the sun glittering just beneath the surface.

Jess enjoyed this scene, which was peaceful even though there were several sharks visible. Since she'd been mugged a few days ago she hadn't felt this calm. It hadn't been that bad, but she had been really jumpy since. A guy had knocked her off her feet and then taken her purse. She had only sustained a few bruises and a bump on her head, but she'd been very scared. The police had later returned her purse with only the money missing. It hadn't been very much, so she'd really been lucky.

While Jess watched the glittering lights in the water a strange creature swam past the big front glass. Jess hadn't seen it before. It must have been hiding, she thought. And she hadn't noticed it on any of the signs, so she figured that it was new.

It certainly wasn't a shark. The creature was about one meter long, of a dirty brownish color, had very big eyes and a segmented body. It didn't have fins, but something that looked more like small, segmented wings. It had some similarities with a kind of shrimp, a huge shrimp of course, except for those two tentacle-like limbs at its head.

Jess kept watching the thing, like everyone else in the room, when suddenly she heard a familiar voice. It was Matt, followed by Becker, who was telling people that there was a severe problem with the air-conditioning and they all had to leave the room.

"What are you doing here? What is going on?" Jess asked, as the two men approached.

"We have an anomaly here at the aquarium, and our co-ordinates show, that it should be right here." Matt explained, looking around in search of the anomaly.

"Could it be in there? I noticed some strange lights." Jess suggested, pointing at the tank.

"Hey, Lisa, come stand over here with me!" she called out to her niece, as Matt and Becker approached the glass looking at the lights and the weird creature, which was lazily swimming past the glass.

"Oh wow. It's Anomalocaris, that is just so cool." Connor exclaimed upon entering the room and immediately indentifying the creature.

Everybody else just turned around to stare at him.

"What? It's from the Cambrian, which makes it about five-hundred-and-forty million years old. And the story behind its discovery is fascinating." Connor started to explain. Fortunately he was interrupted by Abby, before he could start an entire lecture about the creature.

"Where is the anomaly? It should be here, but I don't see it. Oh, hi Jess, I didn't know you were coming, too." Abby said when she entered the room as the last member of the team.

"Hey, Abby. I think the anomaly is in there." She pointed at the shark tank and at the two men, who were watching Anomalocaris passing the large glass front once again. "But I'm not here for work; I was here with my niece. And I think Lisa and I should leave now and let you work."

She took her niece's hand and started to leave the room, but Lisa had other plans. She dug her heels in and refused to take one more step towards the door.

"Lisa, we should really let these people work. And the sharks are all hiding now anyway. Let's go to the touch pools. You can pet a few rays." Jess tried to convince the girl into coming with her.

"But Jess. I don't want to go. I want to watch this Anocares- thing." Lisa whined. Jess looked at Abby for help, but Abby just shrugged and turned towards the glass, looking for the anomaly.

"I don't think there's much we can do. The anomaly must be somewhere behind those rocks, we won't be able to lock it. The rocks are shielding it." Abby said, after having thoroughly scanned the shark tank.

"What kind of creatures do we have to expect from that anomaly?" Becker was all business, especially now that they knew they wouldn't be able to lock the anomaly and other creatures could come through.

"Anomalocaris was the largest predator of its time. There is nothing we really have to worry about, except maybe that the sharks might swim through the anomaly and end up in the Cambrian sea." Connor answered.

"Well, I guess we'll just keep the public out then and wait until the anomaly closes again." Matt decided and they all stayed glued to the window watching the alien creature making its slow rounds through the large glass tank.

Jess had given up trying to convince Lisa to leave. They were not in any danger, so she let the girl watch from a small distance away from the glass.

Then, suddenly, the creature was gone. They waited for a while, but it didn't reappear.

"It probably went back through the anomaly." Connor sounded a little bit disappointed as he said this, although this was probably best for the creature. The team decided to leave some men at the aquarium to guard the shark tank from the public until the anomaly had closed.

The team itself left and finally Lisa decided to go with Jess. Once she saw the touch pools she completely forgot about Anomalocaris and was thrilled when she got to touch the wing tips of a few rays.

Two hours later Jess was back at home. She had returned Lisa to her sister and she was glad that she had no other plans for the night. Connor and Abby were already there, when she entered the flat and she sat down together with them.

"What a week." she sighed, glad she had someone to talk to. "First the mugging and now I witnessed an anomaly. I never thought I see one that close." she told her flat mates.

"So, what did you think?" Abby asked curiously.

"I didn't really get a good look at the anomaly itself, but it was rather fascinating. I don't want to experience it again, though. I'm glad that only one relatively small creature came through." Jess confessed.

Abby put an arm around her shoulder. "You did great today." And Connor also tried to comfort her. "It is very unlikely you'll encounter an anomaly again, unless you want to go out with the team."

"No, I think I'll feel better staying at the ARC, watching your adventures." Jess smiled at the two and then relaxed into the sofa cushions. She had survived a mugging and an anomaly this week. Things could only get better from now on, couldn't they?

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><p><strong>In case you're interested, Anomalocaris really existed and it's a creature that I have found fascinating ever since I learned about it. <strong>

**I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, I'll write a couple more, soon, which will reveal more about what I mentioned in the summary. I promise it won't be long.  
><strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**So, I had a lot of spare time today (nothing to do at work) and I decided to use it sensibly and finish the second chapter of this story. There's a little bit of Jess and Becker interaction at the end of the chapter (couldn't resist) and there'll probably be more in the following chapters. I hope you enjoy it.**

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><p>After the incident in the aquarium things had gone back to normal. There hadn't been any anomalies for a few days and when one finally occurred, it was far away from the ARC. Jess was absolutely content with staying by the ADD and watching the team via the CCTV cameras at the anomaly site. That last anomaly had been close enough for her.<p>

She watched them deal with a minor creature incursion. It was nothing to worry about though. The anomaly was connected to the Eocene and the only creatures that had come through were two small, furry mammals that belonged to the genus Leptictidium and looked something like a crossover between a kangaroo and a tapir, only a lot smaller.

They were not dangerous and actually kind of cute. But they were small and fast, which made them hard to catch. Jess kept following them on her screens and told the team where the animals were hiding. Fortunately only two had come through the anomaly, before the team had been able to lock it.

Abby was the first one to catch a Leptictidium by throwing her jacket over it and wrapping it in the jacket to carry it. An hour later the two animals had both been caught and sent back to their time and the anomaly was locked again. Two soldiers stayed behind to guard it, while the team went back to the ARC.

This anomaly had been the most exciting thing to happen, since the anomaly at the aquarium, until the Monday morning almost exactly two weeks after Anomalocaris had appeared in the shark tank.

But this Monday morning changed that fact drastically, especially for Jess. It had been a quiet morning and Jess had been doing some paperwork for Lester, when suddenly the anomaly alert sounded and completely startled her.

Immediately she went to work getting the co-ordinates of the anomaly. It didn't take to long to find out where exactly the location was and it deeply shocked her. The anomaly was right here with her, in this very room.

Slowly she turned around in her chair and there it was. Right in front of her in the middle of the room. For a moment she just stared at it in disbelief. Then she started calling the team for help. They were probably already on their way to her, but she wanted them to hurry. A lot.

"Guys, get here as fast as you can. The anomaly is right here with me." she yelled into her microphone.

"Jess, hang in there. We're on our way." she heard Matt's answer. He sounded a little out of breath, probably because he was running. At least that was what she hoped.

"Jess, has anything come through?" This time it was Becker's voice that came through the earpiece.

"No, nothing yet. And I really don't want anything to come through. Hurry up, will you?" She knew she sounded almost hysterical, but she couldn't help it. She was terribly scared.

"Stay calm. We're almost there. Just get away from it as far as you can." Becker's calm voice soothed her a little and she had to admit that he had made a good suggestion. She'd been so shocked by the appearance of the anomaly, that she hadn't even thought about getting away from it.

She immediately jumped out of her chair and retreated behind the ADD, so that the computer terminal was between her and the anomaly. With her back to the wall she impatiently waited for help.

Finally Matt and Becker came through the door, closely followed by Abby. Relief flooded Jess as she saw them. Matt immediately started working on locking the anomaly while Abby and Becker positioned themselves around the anomaly, pointing their EMD's at it, ready to shoot any creature that might dare to come through.

"Are you okay, Jess?" Abby asked her, briefly looking in her direction, giving her an encouraging smile.

"Yes." Jess nodded weakly. "Better now that you are here." She smiled at the three of them, thankful she didn't have to face the anomaly alone anymore. That was not what she had signed on to do, when she had accepted the job at the ARC.

Just when she started to feel a bit better, a loud and terrifying roar could be heard coming from the anomaly. Something on the other side was very close and it sounded big. Jess jumped and moved a little to her side, until she was standing directly behind Becker. She felt safer there.

"Matt, how much longer until you get this thing locked?" Becker asked, alarmed by the roar, which had now changed to a threatening low growl that seemed to be getting closer.

"I'm working on it. I'm almost done." Matt replied, sounding slightly irritated.

"There!" he exclaimed when he had finally set up the locking device and pressed the last button to turn it on and lock the anomaly.

"Just in time, mate." Becker said, as he lowered his EMD and Abby followed suit. Then he turned his head to look at Jess, with an amused expression on his face. "You can let go of me, Jess. It is safe now."

Jess blushed and let go of the back of his shirt, which she had curled her fingers into at some point. She couldn't really remember getting this close to Becker, let alone grabbing his shirt. "Sorry." she muttered feeling extremely embarrassed.

She was saved by Connor, who chose this moment to storm into the room. When he saw the anomaly he stopped dead in his tracks. "Oh." was all he said.

"Connor. You missed all the fun." Abby told him. "Where have you been?"

"I was talking to Philip. He wouldn't let me go." Connor explained his tardiness.

"We can talk about that later. Right now it would be interesting to get a date on this thing." Matt said in a way that indicated he wasn't happy with Philip keeping a team member away from such a critical situation as the one they had just encountered.

Connor went to work right away. "Twenty million years. In the future. Who knows what kind of creature might have come through from there." he said a few minutes later.

"Nothing pleasant I expect." Matt muttered, more to himself than to anybody else. "Alright. The anomaly has been secured, so everybody can go back to what they were doing before the alert, now. Jess you'll be fine, there's nothing to worry about anymore."

Jess had gone back to her chair in front of the ADD, but she kept eyeing the locked anomaly suspiciously. "Wait! What?" she shouted, when everybody started leaving her. She really didn't want to be left alone, as long as the anomaly was still around.

No one seemed to react to her shout though and moments later she was alone again. Sighing she turned in her chair to find out that she wasn't as alone as she had thought. Captain Becker had stayed behind with her.

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked her, looking like he was ready to leave like the rest of the team if she said 'yes'.

"Not really." she confessed. "Would…would you stay here with me until it closes?" she asked him meekly. He looked at her for a short moment, considering her request.

"Alright. I'll stay till it closes." Then he pulled up a chair and sat down next to her at the ADD, his gun on his lap and they watched the anomaly together.


	3. Chapter 3

In the days following the incident Jess had trouble concentrating on her work. That last anomaly had been a close call. It got so bad that even Lester noticed something was wrong and suggested she should take a few days off.

"I'm going to visit my family next week." she told him, but he wasn't really interested in any details.

"Visiting your family? That's nice." Abby said. She was standing close by and had heard everything.

"Yes, it's my grandma's 75th birthday and the entire family will be there." Jess told her and she realized how much she was looking forward to seeing her family and leaving the ARC and the city behind for a few days.

A couple of days later she was finally on her way, watching the London skyline shrinking into the distance in her rearview mirror. Her grandma's house was located outside of London in the countryside.

She was the last one to arrive, her entire family was already there. It was a warm and sunny day and she went around the house to find her grandma and the rest of the family in the garden. She hugged her grandma and greeted the rest of her family.

They spent the afternoon outside in the garden having a really good time. Then it was time for dinner and everyone went inside. The sun would be setting soon, anyway, so there was no reason to stay outside any longer.

"Auntie Jess, have you seen Linda?" Lisa asked, once everybody was back inside.

"Who's Linda?" Jess had no idea what Lisa was talking about. They didn't have a family member with that name.

"She's my new doll. I can't find her anywhere." the little girl explained.

"Oh, I see. Maybe you left her outside somewhere. Why don't you go and sit down already and I'll go and look for her, okay?" Jess suggested. Lisa nodded and ran off to sit with her mother. Jess watched her for a moment, then she found a flashlight and went back outside in the garden.

She quickly found the doll and was ready to go back inside, when she suddenly noticed a strange glittering in the bushes in the far part of the garden. "Oh, please no, not again." she whispered to herself as she went to investigate.

And there it was, half hidden by the bushes, but it was definitely an anomaly in her grandma's garden. She stared at it, unwilling to believe her eyes. Then she retreated a few steps, pulled out her mobile phone and called the ARC.

When someone picked up at the other end she immediately started talking. "Hey, it's Jess. I need…" She didn't get any further, because the person on the other end of the line interrupted her.

"Jess, this really isn't a good time." It was Lester. "We've just had an anomaly alert and I have no idea what I'm doing here." Lester sounded as if he was in over his head. Apparently he was trying to do her job.

"I know you have an anomaly." she shouted into the phone to get his attention. "I'm standing right in front of it. Send someone here as fast as you can." She gave him directions and then waited on the line while he was giving instructions to the team.

"Okay, they are on their way. Has anything come through yet?"

"Not that I can tell. But I can't be sure. It's pretty dark already." she told Lester.

"Hey, Jess. We're on our way." Matt had come on the line. "Can you watch the anomaly from a safe distance to see if a creature comes through? Oh, and make sure no one else goes near it."

"Sure, I'll see what I can do." She thought for a moment, and then went back inside to find her grandma.

"Nanna, I need your help. There's a slight problem in the garden and I need you to keep everybody inside while I take care of it."

"Of course dear, what is wrong?" her grandma wanted to know.

Jess made up a story about having smelt gas and that she wanted everyone inside while she took care of it. Her grandma didn't really seem to believe her, but she agreed to help Jess and to safe some dinner for her. Jess hugged her, gave her the doll for Lisa and went back to garden, locking the door from the outside.

Then she waited and watched the anomaly. Nervously she scratched her head. The little bump from the mugging was still there. Jess sighed. Since that day everything had been going wrong. Why in the world did these things keep happening to her?

She didn't have time to think about this any longer though, because her phone rang. "Jess, we're almost there. Any changes?" It was Matt again and Jess was very happy to hear that they were close.

"No, so far nothing has happened. Oh, wait…oh no, something is happening right now. Hurry." She watched in horror as the light intensity of the anomaly changed, as if something was trying to get through. And then she saw it. A long snout poked through the anomaly. It was followed by the body of a large, bipedal dinosaur.

Jess slowly and quietly moved backwards, away from the anomaly, to hide behind a tree. She forgot to speak while she did this, causing Matt to start shouting at her in worry.

"Sorry Matt, I'm still here." she whispered into her phone. "A dinosaur just came through the anomaly and I really wanted to get out of the way. It's big."

"Okay, Jess. Just a few more minutes. You're doing great." Matt reassured her. "Now tell me about the dinosaur. What does it look like and what is it doing?"

Jess carefully peered around the tree, she was hiding behind. Thankfully the dinosaur was moving away from the house. "It's going down towards the lake I think. It's big and it walks on two legs. It looks a little bit like the Spinosaurus that followed Abby and Connor from the Cretaceous. But not exactly. It doesn't have that sail on its back and I think it's not as big."

"Could be a Baryonyx." Connor suggested, by the sound of his voice from the back of the car. "They were mainly fish-eaters. You should be reasonably safe."

"Thanks. I'm not going to follow it to test that theory though." Jess answered. Then she could finally hear cars in the driveway and went to the front of the house to meet the team. She showed them the anomaly and Connor locked it immediately. They didn't want any other cretaceous creatures coming through.

"Jess, you said the dinosaur went down to the lake. You'll have to show us the way." Matt addressed her suddenly.

Jess stared at him wide-eyed. "What? Can't you just follow the footprints or something?"

"We could try, but it's dark and it would take too long." Becker explained. "Come on, Jess. You can do this. I'll watch out for you, I promise."

"Alright, I'll show you." she reluctantly agreed. She led them to the lake until they could see the dinosaur. She did not leave Becker's side the entire time.

"We're going to try and chase it back through the anomaly. Connor, unlock it as soon as we tell you to. Jess, you can go back up to the house now if you want." Becker said, looking at her.

"I…" she wasn't sure what she wanted to do. But then the Baryonyx looked in their direction and roared. This made her decide to leave and stay with Connor.

"Be careful, alright." she said, quickly squeezing Becker's hand. He squeezed back and then she left.

Standing next to Connor, she waited for the team to get the dinosaur back to the anomaly. "Connor. You told me it was unlikely that I would encounter an anomaly twice, if I didn't go looking for it. This is the third time now in as many weeks. How do you explain that?"

"I can't explain it. It doesn't make any sense. It's almost as if you were some kind of anomaly magnet or something." He really didn't seem to have an explanation.

Jess sighed. "I don't like it." She didn't say more, because a noise announced the arrival of the Baryonyx.

"Connor, open the anomaly!" they heard Matt shout. Connor opened it, but the dinosaur ignored the anomaly and started heading towards Jess, who slowly walked backwards, terrified. Matt, Abby and Becker came running, Becker passed the dinosaur and came to stand next to Jess.

The dinosaur took another step in their direction and Becker shot it with his EMD. The dinosaur stumbled back and fell through the anomaly. Connor quickly closed it again, so it couldn't come back. Jess exhaled in relief and hugged Becker.

"Thanks." she whispered in his ear. He quickly wrapped his free arm around her and pulled her against him for a moment, before letting go of her again.

"I didn't want to take the risk that it might decide to change its diet. Are you okay?"

"Yes, now I'm fine. But I think I should come back to the ARC with you." she told him.

"With me?" he asked in surprise.

"With all of you." she explained, feeling herself blush. "These anomalies seem to happen around me, so I'd rather be close to the ARC."

The rest of the team agreed that this was a good idea. Jess said goodbye to her family and explained that something had come up at work and the team left together.

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><p><strong>So, that was chapter three. And another anomaly around Jess. Soon we'll find out why that happens. The Baryonyx was a suggestion from InGenworker, I hope you enjoyed that. I needed a creature for this chapter, so I went with your suggestion, I thought it fit.<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

After the disastrous visit to the countryside and her third encounter with an anomaly Jess had practically moved into the ARC. She was very careful not be alone anywhere and she only went home when Abby and Connor were there, too, keeping a portable anomaly detector and an EMD close at all times. She was very grateful for her flat mates, because otherwise she wouldn't have dared to go home at all.

When she was at the ARC she was always around Becker. She wasn't really sure if it was because she tried to be close to him or if he tried to be close to her, but it didn't really matter. She was glad when he was around. She felt a lot safer then, she enjoyed his company and she never lacked in chocolate while he was around.

After another long day at work Jess was sitting on a sofa in the rec room, waiting for Abby to finish at the menagerie, so they could go home. Becker came in and leaned against the far wall just as she stretched her back, trying to loosen her shoulder muscles. She'd been so tense lately that even her very comfy chair wasn't helping.

"I really hope Connor figures out why so many anomalies appeared around me, soon. I haven't really been able to relax in weeks." she sighed, rolling her shoulders.

"Do you want me to threaten him into working faster?" Becker suggested as he came over and sat down next to her.

Jess smiled and pretended to think about it for a few seconds. "No, but thanks. I'm sure he's working as fast as he can. I might get back to your offer though, if I find out he is getting distracted."

They were quiet for a moment. "Turn around." Becker suddenly said breaking the silence before it could become uncomfortable.

"What?" Jess stared at him uncomprehending. He lightly touched her shoulder and carefully turned around so her back was towards him.

"I said, turn around. You look like your shoulders hurt. Let me help." he explained his motive and gently started massaging her neck and shoulders.

Jess was really surprised by this, but she quickly relaxed into his touch and closed her eyes. "Oh god, that feels so good." she softly said and had to suppress a moan of pleasure. Becker just smiled at her back, not sure how exactly he had gotten himself into this situation and what to say or do next.

He could feel her shoulder muscles loosen under his hands and moved to her neck, rubbing it in small circles with his thumbs.

"What is this?" he asked her when his thumb found a small bump at the base of her skull. He carefully examined it with his fingers and it felt strange to him.

"That's just a very slowly fading bruise from when I hit my head during the mugging a couple of weeks back." Reluctantly she opened her eyes and turned back around, because the massage had stopped.

"It feels strange, don't you think? As if there is something embedded under your skin." Becker looked genuinely worried. Jess reached up to feel the bump again herself. She had to admit that he was right. There could be something under her skin. She grimaced at that unpleasant thought.

"You could be right." she conceded. "I'll have it checked out first thing tomorrow morning."

Becker nodded but didn't get a chance to say anything else, because in that moment Abby entered the room to pick up Jess. The two girls left, leaving him behind by himself in the rec room. Well, he had gotten out of the situation, he thought, but not exactly in the way he would have imagined.

The next morning Connor offered to take Jess to the doctor's office, so she could get that bump checked out. Just as they were about to enter the building he got a phone call from Abby.

"That was Abby. Rex isn't eating right and she wants me to get some special food for him. The shop is right around the corner here. Do you mind if I go there while you're at the doctor's? I'll have an anomaly detector with me the whole time." He looked at her with such puppy-dog eyes that she couldn't say no. She knew he wanted to do everything for Abby that he could, so she agreed.

Jess was the first patient that morning and she immediately got to see the doctor. He felt the bump at her head and agreed that there was probably something inside it. He quickly numbed the area with a local anesthetic and a small cut later he had removed a tiny piece of metal from Jess' skin.

After it was cleaned it looked like a very small computer chip. Jess convinced the doctor to let her have the object, pulling the 'working for a secret government institution' card to get her way. Half an hour after entering the doctor's office she left it again, carrying a small glass jar with the metal chip the doctor had removed.

On her way outside she called Connor to let him know she was done.

"The doctor removed some kind of computer chip or something. Will you take a look at it later, figure out what it does?" she asked him, after he had confessed that he had gotten lost trying to find the shop and that he'd need a few more minutes to get back to the car.

She was still on the phone with Connor when she left the building and stepped onto the street. She was listening to Connor telling her exactly what he was doing at the moment. Suddenly she was grabbed from behind, rudely ending her phone conversation. A hand was clapped over her mouth and she was pulled into a waiting van before she really knew what was going on.

As soon as she was inside the van, it started moving. They hadn't taken her phone though and she stealthily slid the it into her pocket. They had taken the strange chip from her though.

"You shouldn't have done that." the man, who had grabbed her on the street told her, shaking the glass jar in front of her face. "You shouldn't have found this."

Jess was really confused now and didn't know how to react. How did this man know about the computer chip and why had he taken her? She stayed silent, waiting what would happen next. She hoped that Connor had noticed something strange had happened and that he'd raise the alarm.

Connor had indeed noticed that something was wrong. It wasn't like Jess to just end a call in the middle of a conversation. He had immediately tried to call her back but she hadn't picked up. He went back to the car as quickly as he could but Jess was nowhere in sight.

He didn't wait any longer and called the ARC to help him look for Jess, while driving there himself. The team was already waiting for him when he arrived. He told them again what had happened and Matt, Abby and Becker took a few soldiers and split up to search all over town.

Connor went to the next computer and managed to trace the GPS chip in Jess' phone. It was too bad that she hadn't been carrying a tracking unit, which would have made finding her so much easier. But her phone was on and Connor traced it to a warehouse not to far from the ARC.

He told them where they would probably find Jess. "She said something about a kind of computer chip or something like it that the doctor removed from her skin. Maybe that was why the anomalies kept appearing around her. I'm not sure though, it's just a thought." he added after recalling the conversation he'd had with Jess, before the call had abruptly ended.

Becker got to the address Connor had given them first, he had been the closest. The others were on their way but it would still take them a few more minutes to get to the warehouse. They couldn't be entirely sure that Jess was really inside, but it was their best and only guess.

Becker was incredibly worried that something bad had happened to Jess. He had no idea what was going on, but he found it extremely difficult to stay outside the warehouse and wait for backup, when really he just wanted to storm inside and find Jess. But he knew his chances of getting her out unharmed were better with the whole team, so he waited, feeling as if time had slowed down around him.

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><p><strong>No anomaly in this chapter but Jess still got in trouble. Poor girl. But at least she got a massage from Becker, right? I could use one of those myself, don't you? Wel, I hope you enjoyed it and I'll try not to wait too long to update.<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

Jess had no idea if someone was looking for her, trying to save her. She couldn't know that Connor had already located her phone and Becker was already standing outside, impatiently waiting for backup. She only hoped that that was exactly what was happening outside, because her situation inside this old warehouse wasn't improving.

Her captor had taken her to an empty room. There he had bound her wrists with handcuffs and attached them to a short chain that was fixed to the wall. She couldn't move around very much and there was nothing to sit down on, except the floor, which was incredibly filthy.

Another man entered the room and went to stand next to the man who had brought her here. She knew without a doubt that she had never seen him before and yet he seemed very familiar. Jess couldn't explain this feeling, it was very strange. This man took the glass jar with the chip from her captor and moved to stand right in front of her.

"Miss Parker. You should not have found this. This is a very unlucky situation for you." he told her, holding up the glass jar for her to see and then putting it down next to her, careful to place it just outside her reach.

"What are you doing?" Jess exclaimed both shocked and surprised. "What is that bloody thing, what does it do and how did it ever get embedded under my skin?" She'd really had enough of this mystery shit now and she wanted some answers. Especially if they were going to end her, which she suspected was their intention, she at least wanted to know why.

"It is something I have been working on for a while now. I needed someone to test it for me and Mitch decided you would be the most suitable target. He mugged you as a cover for injecting the little chip under your skin." the man explained. Jess shuddered as she looked at him and not only from his words, which alone of course were enough to make anyone tremble. But she had also noticed a short change in his appearance, like a weird kind of ripple rolling over his features, before everything looked normal again.

She remembered having read about a holographic masking device from the future that Helen had once used to trick Danny into taking her inside the ARC. Abby had told the others about having noticed this effect before Helen had revealed herself. So maybe this man was actually someone she knew and just couldn't recognize because of his disguise.

"Yes, I figured as much. But what does the chip do?" Jess had an idea what the chip did, but she needed to hear it from him. And also keeping him talking might buy her some time, hopefully enough time for someone to find her.

"Well, I thought you would have figured it out by now." Jess remained silent and waited for more. He had invented that thing and she had a feeling that he needed to boast about it. "It is an attempt at controlling anomalies. Already we can almost always control the location where it opens, as you probably have noticed."

Yes, that was what Jess had expected. And she could see how that chip would be very valuable. But she didn't understand why he had to test it in secret and even had to abduct her to keep it secret. She asked him, but he just laughed at her.

"Do you have any idea how much money I could make with this, should I ever choose to sell the technology? But that is not the reason of course. If I can control the anomalies there are so many possibilities, especially when I can reach the future. The technology and the knowledge I will be able to access will give me a priceless advantage in every imaginable way."

He was right of course and she could tell from the look in his eyes, that he would do whatever he deemed necessary to keep this invention, this advantage to himself.

"Well, Miss Parker. It is regrettable that the course of events has led us here. You should never have discovered the chip and we would eventually have retrieved it with hardly any harm done to you. Now we cannot let you live with this knowledge. It is very unfortunate." He looked at her apologetically and Jess just couldn't shake the feeling that she knew him fairly well.

"Mitch, we should go. All we can do now is wait and hope for Miss Parker's sake that whatever comes through the next anomaly will kill her fast." He nodded at her in farewell and then he and Mitch left the room, locking the heavy steel door behind them.

Immediately she started to fight her restraints, but there was nothing she could do against handcuffs and chains. Suddenly a light was switched on in the room adjacent to the one she was in. They were connected by a large window, which had bars in front of it on her side. She briefly wondered why a window inside a building needed bars, but she was distracted from that thought when she saw the two men walking up to the window.

They were watching her from a safe room, waiting for an anomaly to open and a creature to come through to eat her. Not the quickest way to end someone, but effective nonetheless. She could always hope that no creature found its way through the next anomaly and the ARC team would find her here. But somehow she didn't think she'd be that lucky.

She stood there for at least an hour before something happened. Her feet had started hurting in her pretty yellow high-heeled shoes, but she still refused to sit down on that disgusting floor. Then, suddenly, she felt a tug on the chain that connected her handcuffs to the wall. She looked around in surprise, trying to see what was going on.

She didn't have to wonder long, an anomaly opened up right in front of her. Now she was really scared. All the time before she had been hoping that someone from the team, preferably Becker as she admitted to herself, would come and rescue her. Now they would surely come, but would they be in time?

She pulled on the chain until her arms hurt. When she finally had to give up all she could do was to cower down against the wall and be as quiet as she could, hoping to hear some footsteps outside and scream for help at the right moment.

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><p><strong>No Becker in this part :'(, I know it's sad. But he'll be back in the next chapter, promise.<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

Becker was still standing outside in front of the warehouse waiting for back-up, getting more impatient by the second. Suddenly an anomaly alert came in on his handheld detector. He checked it, immediately thinking of how anomalies had had a tendency to occur around Jess lately. And his inkling appeared to be correct. The detector showed that the anomaly was right inside the warehouse.

He couldn't wait for back-up anymore. "I'm going in now. There's an anomaly inside the warehouse and I won't wait any longer." he said into his microphone and carefully crept closer to the door of the warehouse.

He stopped for a second to listen for any sounds coming from the inside, but everything was quiet. So he slowly cracked the door open and when there was no one on the other side he slipped inside and found himself in a dimly lit corridor that led farther inside the warehouse and had many doors branching off on both sides.

He stood still for a moment, listening for any sounds, which could give him a clue of where to find Jess, but he still heard nothing. So he started to carefully open one door after another, finding one empty room after the other.

Finally, when he opened the fifth door, he saw two men who looked at him startled and quickly left the room through a door on the other side. Becker started to follow them, but his pursuit was ended almost as soon as it had started. Upon entering the room he saw the huge window showing the room next door. There he could see Jess, chained to the wall, with an anomaly right there in the room with her. As he watched the anomaly flickered, as if something was about to come through.

He stopped dead in his tracks and turned back around to go and free Jess. He had to be quick. Who knew what creature might soon be in the same room with Jess. He didn't know what he'd do if he let something happen to her. In the corridor he met some of his men, who had finally arrived and followed him inside the building.

"Through there. I saw two men, they went out the rear door. Try to catch them while I'll get Jess." Becker instructed them and then hurried to the door behind which Jess had just started screaming in terror.

He gripped his EMD tighter and swiftly moved to the door. He cracked it open a bit so he wouldn't let any creature escape. As soon as he had established that the doorway was clear he quickly entered the room and closed the door again behind him.

He surveyed the room. The anomaly was between him and Jess and some kind of animal was in the room as well. He couldn't see it very well, because the anomaly was in the way. Quietly he moved around the anomaly to see what he was dealing with. As soon as he could see Jess and she saw him he laid his index finger across his lips, so she'd stay quiet.

That was a visibly great effort for her, because the animal was standing right in front of her, sniffing her and probably trying to figure out whether she was food or not. It was big and ugly. A mammal as far as Becker could tell, but he didn't really care too much about that. It looked somewhat like a mutated wild boar and those could be dangerous. So Becker didn't want to take any risks and when the animal made another move towards Jess he shot it with the EMD and it dropped to the ground, unmoving.

The room was now momentarily clear of creatures and Becker went over to Jess. "Are you alright?" he asked her, still worried about her well-being.

"I am now." she sighed in relief. "But please just get me out of here." She looked at him with big eyes that still conveyed the horror of what she'd been through.

Acting on an impulse he hugged her and whispered in her ear. "I will get you out. You're safe now." Then he had to let go of her so he could start working on getting the handcuffs open. With a wire he started picking the lock and after a few tries Jess' right hand was free.

"Watch out!" she shouted as he took her other wrist to pick the second lock. He whirled around and brought the EMD up just in time to shoot another of those pig-like creatures before it could smash into them. Then he handed the EMD to Jess so she could shoot anything that came through the anomaly with her free hand.

"Please hurry." she whispered, staring at the anomaly which had started to flicker again.

He worked as fast as he could and the lock clicked open, just as Jess shot another creature that was making its way into the room with them. Now that Jess was free she handed the EMD back to Becker and, holding on tightly to his free arm, she urged him to move towards the door as fast as possible.

Outside they met Matt and Abby, who were hurrying along the corridor, carrying the locking device. "The anomaly is in there. There are at least three creatures inside as well, but those three are down." Becker told them, pointing at the door.

"There is a small glass jar with a computer chip inside it somewhere in the room. It does something with the anomalies. You should try to find it. Maybe Connor can find out more about it." Jess added.

Matt and Abby nodded and went inside. Becker made a motion to follow them but Jess clung even tighter to him and a small cry escaped her.

"Please don't leave alone out here." she pleaded. Again she looked at him with big eyes which were still bright with fear.

"But Jess, I have to…" he began, not entirely sure what he should do now.

"It's okay mate. Abby and I can handle this. Take her back to the ARC." Matt told him and Abby nodded in agreement. Becker looked from Jess to Abby and Matt and then back to Jess.

"Alright." he finally said, having made up his mind by looking in Jess' eyes. "I'll send in two men to help you." Then he wrapped his arm around Jess pulling her close into his side and led her outside to his car. He helped her inside and went around to the driver's side. Before he could get in himself he was approached by one of the soldiers.

"Captain, we secured one of the men you saw. There was no trace of the second man. We're still searching the building and the area."

"Okay, keep searching and have someone take the other man to the ARC for questioning." he instructed and finally he got in the car to take Jess away from all that had happened, back to the safety of the ARC.

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><p><strong>Yay, Becker is back jus, like I promised. He had to save the day, didn't he? There will be one more chapter and then the story should be finished, I think.<strong>

**In case anyone is interested in the creature I mentioned, I had an Entelodont in mind. Appearantly their nicknames are 'Hell Pigs' or 'Terminator Pigs', I thought that as pretty funny.**


	7. Chapter 7

On the short drive back to the ARC Jess was able to finally relax a little again. She knew she didn't have to fear an anomaly opening next to her anymore, now that the chip was gone. And Becker was sitting next to her, so really she didn't have to fear anything at all at the moment.

When they entered the ARC Connor was already waiting for them. He hugged Jess, relieved to see her alive and unharmed.

"Oh, Jess, I'm so sorry I left you alone this morning. I shouldn't have done that." he apologized to her.

"Damn straight you shouldn't have." Becker told him, apparently not at all amused with the events of the morning.

"Becker!" Jess scolded him. "He couldn't have known."

"And I'm the one who found her before the anomaly even opened." Connor added and reluctantly Becker nodded at that. The three of them walked through the halls of the ARC to the ADD. On their way they passed Philip Burton who was talking on the phone and completely ignored them. Jess tensed as she saw him. Becker, who again had an arm around her noticed and looked at her questioningly.

Jess just shook her head. "It's nothing. I'm fine." she assured him even though she wasn't really sure what had just happened. But when she'd seen Philip she had suddenly been reminded of the second man at the warehouse. It couldn't have been Philip or could it? She shook her head to clear it. It probably was just the stress of the last few weeks. Surely she was imagining things.

A few minutes later they had reached the ADD and Becker left to talk to Mitch, the man they had captured at the warehouse. Jess stayed with Connor and closed her eyes for a while. Abby and Matt returned not too long after them and they had indeed found the strange computer chip which they handed to Connor.

Connor immediately started to examine the chip and he was fascinated. Jess had to tell him everything she knew, everything those two men had told her about it. He was so intrigued that she offered to take over from him at the ADD so he could go and analyze the chip further.

For about an hour nothing happened and Jess was already feeling a lot better. Then Becker came back and the team assembled around the ADD.

"This guy, Mitch, he doesn't seem to know anything. He is not talking very much, but apparently he just did the dirty work for his boss without knowing why he did what he did. He also couldn't give us the name of his boss. We'll keep him locked up but I doubt that he'll be able to give us more information." Becker reported what little he had found out.

"I've started analyzing the chip that Jess carried around with her." Connor said when Becker was finished. "It is pretty amazing. I'll have to do more tests to figure out how it works exactly, but I think I saw something similar in some Prospero files, so that might help."

At the mention of Prospero the others exchanged meaningful looks but no one said anything and Connor didn't notice.

"You should store the chip somewhere safe, in an empty and locked room. Just in case that there is another anomaly. We don't want any creatures on the loose in this building." Matt said after that short silence and Connor immediately left to take the chip to a safe pace. Only minutes later he came back.

"It's gone. The chip is gone." he told them looking distraught. "It was on my desk, I'm absolutely sure about that. And now it is nowhere in the room. I've looked everywhere."

The rest of the team exchanged another look. Their suspicion seemed to have been confirmed, but now there was no more proof left.

"Well, just keep looking." Matt said finally. "That goes for everyone, keep your eyes open for anything suspicious. Someone inside the ARC has their own agenda. Jess, you can go home if you want. You look like you need some rest." With that the team went back to work.

Only Becker stayed with Jess. "I'll take you home if you want." he offered. She thought about it quickly and then nodded.

"Yes, I think I should better go home. I'm not going to be able to concentrate on work anymore today." she agreed and they left together. Jess talked the whole way to her flat. This was partly because she had been uncharacteristically quiet the entire morning and was now making up for that. The other reason was because she was nervous about Becker coming to her flat with her.

She wasn't sure what was going to happen, if anything was going to happen at all. But she was nervous and excited just thinking about the possibilities.

When they got to her flat Becker drew his gun and went in first to make sure that no one was waiting for Jess inside. Only then did he let her enter and closed the door behind them.

"I'll stay here for a while. The second man is still out there and we don't know who he is, so you shouldn't be alone." he told her and sat down at her kitchen table. Jess started to make some tea but she felt watched the entire time. Becker's presence was suddenly making her uncomfortable. She almost dropped the cups when she got them out of the cabinet.

She stopped to take a deep breath and closed her eyes. This wasn't like her. When she opened her eyes again Becker was standing next to her and gently took the cups from her hands. He finished the tea and put everything on the table. Then he put his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes.

"It's okay. You're safe now. I'll keep you safe."

That wasn't what she had wanted to hear. Well, at least not all she had wanted to hear. Apparently he had no clue about what she really felt. "I know, thank you." she answered and they sat down at the table. For the rest of the afternoon they drank tea and talked and Jess' nervousness faded slowly.

Sometime during the afternoon Abby had called to tell Jess that she and Connor had been invited by friends and wouldn't come home that night. This meant for Becker that he would spend the night. They ordered Chinese for dinner and watched a movie while they ate.

By the end of the movie Jess was somehow snuggled up against Becker with his arm around her shoulders, holding her close. She was so comfortable that she almost fell asleep. Finally Becker shook her slightly and reluctantly she sat back up, rubbing her eyes.

"You should go to bed. That'd be more comfortable than my shoulder." he told her, smiling at her. Jess wasn't sure that her bed would actually be more comfortable, but she didn't say anything about that.

"Yes, I need my beauty sleep." she said instead.

"You may need your sleep, but you can't get any more beautiful than you already are." Becker said without thinking about his words first. Jess stared at him and then grinned widely, watching his face redden as he realized what he had just said.

"You think I'm beautiful?" she asked, just to be sure.

"Well, yeah…yes, I think you are beautiful." he confirmed pulling her closer again until she was sitting across his lap. "And smart and funny and sweet and…" He probably would have continued that list but he had also put his hand on the back of her neck, pulling her head slowly down to him. When her mouth met his he stopped talking and completely concentrating on kissing those soft lips, which slowly parted to let his tongue in.

"I think I can stay up a little longer. I'm not really tired anymore." Jess said when she broke the kiss for a moment. Then she put her arms around his neck and buried her fingers in his hair. She tilted her head down again for another kiss. Sleep was no longer on the mind of either of them.

**The End**

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><p><strong>Yep, that was it, the end of the story. Everything else that might happen during that night is left to your imagination. I hope you enjoyed the story and this last chapter. The end wasn't easy to write, but I think it works now.<strong>

**Now that the story is finished I also wanted to take a moment to thank you all for the wonderful reviews. They always made my day and they kept me going. Without them this story would have still been written, just a lot slower probably. So thank you to all the reviewers, you're awesome.  
><strong>


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